To Be or Not to Be: Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Creation as a Way to Innovate in Life Sciences

New market opportunities in the life sciences will emerge in the next few years, thanks to scientific advancements and the need for entrepreneurs who can address these opportunities is following such a trend. The role of companies, in particular of innovative start-ups in contributing to the development and economic growth of society and in the development of healthcare-related solutions, has been extensively studied. Unfortunately it has been clear since at least a decade that there is a profound mismatch between the traditional role of doctoral education in preparing young researchers for an academic career. Particularly in life sciences the existence of pure scientific results, however excellent they may be, does not automatically entail their transformation into innovative activities. This is the reason why the role of the researcher within the entrepreneurial process of a high-tech start-up—particularly in the field of biotechnology—is fundamental, especially in the initial stages. Examples of focused training and supporting solutions are existing but still not standardised. On the other hand, the need to maximise the impact of scientific research on society requires curricula, particularly for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) students, which will explicitly include entrepreneurial and innovation management components as transformative tools to maximise their contribution to society.